Mercedes-Benz Rolling Chassis, Ivory

The companies of Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler merged into Daimler-Benz on 28 June 1926, and the first cars to carry the Mercedes-Benz name followed that year. The Mercedes half of the name was older: Emil Jellinek, who worked with Daimler, named the 1901 Mercedes 35 hp after his daughter and registered the trademark in 1902. This chassis carries the joined name on its radiator badge, and its rev counter is lettered Andr. Vogel, Cannstatt.

It is a rolling chassis without bodywork, the frame finished in ivory and drilled along its length with rows of round holes. The engine is polished and chromed, with black cam covers, twin chromed carburettors, red ignition leads and three flexible exhaust pipes. Ahead of it stand the radiator with its mesh grille and two headlamps on curved stays. Behind the bulkhead are a polished wooden dashboard with a full set of dials and a leather-bound four-spoke steering wheel with the star at its centre. The springs are bound in cord, and black wire wheels with copper brake drums run on Michelin tyres. Plates reading IIIA-23326, with a D oval at the rear, are fitted front and back. Laid out on the high-gloss burr wood base is a toolkit: a wooden tool box, a tyre pump, a red extinguisher, a pressure gauge on braided hoses, hammers, files, spanners and an oil can. The wooden tool box is marked MIŠKO MODELS 2008: the chassis comes from the workshop of Dr Miodrag Jelesijević, who builds Mercedes S, SS, SSK and SSKL models by hand at 1:5.